Of Shadows and Demons
by Samuraimon
Summary: Dante gets a peculiar job hunting down a demon in a modern city called Chesterton in northern England. However what he may find there could doom the very existence o the human race as we know it. Starring Dante,Lady,and two crossover characters.Plz review
1. Chapter 1

_Of Shadows and Demons_

by Samuraimon

Chapter 1: A Routine Job?

Fog wisped out of nowhere, swirling eerily around Dante as he walked down a main street. Nothing stirred in the mist, the only sound he heard where his own leather boots thumping as he walked. The city's name had been Chesterton, but now Dante would have named it "Demonville". It was all the same to him, after all it was only a rountine job, or so he thought anyway.

Along the ground bloody trails lead off from wrecked cars and broken shop windows. Dante knew it was the work of demons, however there were no bodies and certainly no survivors of the bloody massacre. He could not imagine why there was mist though only in this one part of the region. Upon arriving he had seen the city from an overpass through the mountains even from there he knew this would be interesting. But it wasn't much of a party without any games to play and Dante was far from being amused. He hoped he would be paid well for this whole mess. The contractor who had hired him had told him explicitly that there was a demon that had terrorized the builders of a new church somehwere at the center of the city. But judging by the way the place looked, the demon had done a nice job for himself which surprised even Dante's expectations.

Dante raised Ebony and Ivory from beneath the folds of his trenchcoat. The shuffling sound he had heard precious seconds before suddenly resumed. His eyesight was razor sharp and even he could not pierce the fogwith his gaze. The silhouette of a man staggering met his eyes as he raised his guns and pointed them crisscrossed at the man's head. This wasn't a demon, nor was it a human by any stretch. After all the poor dude had half his face gone.

"Well now, this is what I'm talkin' about! Finally some action!"

Dante smirked, and pulled the triggers, the sound of his gunshots reverberating off the buildings and stonework around him. The creature fell and then he heard groaning from behind where the corpse now lay. There were more of them. Alot more of them. Dante merely chuckled, "Fellas I only deal in demons, but if it's a fight you want," he paused, as he fired at one as it lunged at him from out of the front lines,"Then bring it!"

The silence had been broken. Alucard raised his head and squinted into the grayness that filled the air. "Come Police girl, we move."

"Yes Master!" she replied nervously.

Alucard didn't like the whole situation at all, not one bit. Though they had just arrived a short few hours ago,they had found no sign of the vampire who had created all of these Ghouls and no sign of the British sanctioned special forces that had been sent in to cordon off the area. Regardless, there still was something alive and kicking out there in the fog, and Alucard was determined to find out what it was.

Dante tried keep his bravado going even though there were so many zombies all around him. Some even had guns and uniforms suggesting that the British military had sent people to do a crappy job. Dante continued to fire Ebony and Ivory rabidly at the hordes of the city's maddened populace to no avail whatsoever. With each one that fell two or three more seemed to rise from the back to the front in order to take his or her place. Unsheathing Rebellion, Dante sliced one in half spreading his blood and guts all over the pavement of the alley way the Ghouls had forced him into. The others continued to back him into a corner until he hit a wall. Dante shrugged his shoulders and stared at a particularly nasty one in the front, oozing blood from its mouth and chuckled," I guess you all want a piece of me huh? Well there is plenty of me to go around! Come and get it if you can!"

Dante shoved Rebellion into the bloody-mouthed Ghoul, flinging his corpse into the front row of the horde who fell over. Dante then shot them all, their fleshy bodies not as strong as that of demon. The second wave did not hesitate, but instead some of the zombies in uniforms shot at Dante with some heavy artililary, namely machine gun spray. Dante took the shots with a grimace and did a running charge, successfully getting the head off or one and cutting the legs out from under another. He smiled slightly as one came rushing from behind with a billy club, only to be shot by Ivory, without Dante even turning around.

He wasn't even done yet by a long shot. "I'm just getting started, but I'm willing to bet you guys don't even understand a word that I'm saying," Dante said as he sliced one deeply in the chest and decapitated another Ghoul simultaneously. Hacking and slashing did the trick, leaving a pile of mangled corpses in his wake. The last Ghoul came from around the corner to the next road wielding a pump action shotgun, and shot Dante in the chest. The half demon got up and flung the blood from his bloodied blade into the zombie's eyes before sheathing his sword and shooting it's head off with a charged shot from Ebony. He blew the smoke from his gun and sighed, "Rountine job my ass."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter II: Dance of Fate

They were getting closer. Alucard could feel it as they drew near the site where the shots had been fired. Still, he had to take every precaution," Police girl," he said with authority, raising a white gloved hand," I want you to stay here. Understand?"

They were at a four lane street at what appeared to have once been a main intersection toward the middle of town. The only sound was police girl's hurried breath, and the slight breeze that blew the fog lazily by them. Alucard knew any second now that he would meet whoever it was beyond the wall of mist, he couldn't risk Seras's safety.

He heard her gulp, his lips twisted into a wry grin, his red eyes focused ahead. "M-m-master? Are you sure you won't need me?"

"I'm sure of it," he said quietly, turning his head slightly, so that only one red eye from behind his glasses stared omnisciently at her," Head toward the center for a final sweep. This punk is mine."

She merely nodded and obeyed knowing that there was no point in debating orders. Soon her footsteps faded into obscurity along the road to Alucard's left. Even after all they had been through together, she still doubted what she was. Alucard enjoyed the silence, the thrill of anticipation, the thrill of battle, but today it would be the thrill of death that would make the vampire feel alive.

He stepped ahead down the road, drawing his guns and holding them easily at his sides. Little did he know a certain half-demon was doing the same motion up ahead of him….

Dante held his guns loosely as he walked with his usual swagger up ahead through the mist. He briefly thought about kicking his employer's ass if he didn't find a demon within 24 hours. He still couldn't shake the feeling though that whatever those things were, it was his responsibility to clean them up. He laughed inwardly at how soft he was sounding in his head, cleaning up somebody else's mess. It wouldn't be the first time….

The lines of the road at his feet were visible through the fog as he looked down. The road was a huge intersection leading into the city's heart. Seeing as how blurry things were he didn't want to bother with more zombies by taking back roads. However, no zombies since the ones he had slain had ever showed up, which struck him as weird.

He heard footsteps up ahead which were nothing like the shuffling he had heard earlier. Could a human be still alive despite all the carnage he had seen ? Not trusting fate, Dante twirled his guns casually and gripped them tightly in expectation. The thudding of boots was loud now as the very fog seemed to part revealing a man with a wide hat walking casually down the road.

The figure stopped, and met Dante's blue eyes with his red ones that peered over red-tinted sunglasses. He wore red as well, with white gloves, and long black hair. He stopped and stood there silently as a toothy grin came to his face, revealing front teeth that were pointed at the tip.

"They always say beware of the lady in red, but I wasn't expecting a dude. Personally," Dante paused, twirling his guns and pointing them at the stranger's head, "I'd rather take the girl."

"Cocky little punk aren't you?"

Dante didn't flinch, yet….something had changed about the man's continence, his voice was low and menacing, his red eyes glowing slightly from beneath the hat's wide brim. He raised two guns and pointed them as if to mock Dante.

"A demon that packs heat, this just keeps getting better and better," Dante smirked, tensing on the triggers.

"A demon, huh? You have a lot to learn," smiled the stranger creepily, cocking his guns with his thumb.

There was a pause, and then a small gust of wind that blew an idle newspaper down the shrouded street. The long red coats of the two men billowed fiercely from the gust, much like a scene from an old western movie, the eyes and guns of the men locked. Two indomitable wills testing each other fiercely before fate could pull hard on its strings to make the puppets dance.

Then it happened. The two men fired simultaneously matching one another shot for shot, bullet for bullet. On either side of the wide road the force of the ricocheting rounds caused windows to burst and break spewing glass over the now raging warzone. The strange man laughed as they began to walk in a circle around each other and then break into a run still firing continuously to no avail. Dante saw the man leap as he sprayed a line of windows where he had once been, only to hear him chuckle from behind. In response, Dante back flipped over him and fired at the guy's face taking out both of his eyes.

Dante landed and spun around, his eyes still trained on his now blinded opponent. The man turned, his hat having blown off a long time ago during the first volley, his hand over where one eye had been. His face was covered by his hair, but then Dante saw something that was impossible. The eyes were back. Somehow the demon had regenerated them, but that was incredible, too incredible for Dante to comprehend.

"You've got style, I'll give you that. But you are in the dark now boy, and the dark is my dominion," said the man before Dante, his white gun pointed over his one arm, his left red eye wide to see to his target.

"Have it your way, freak," Dante said pointing Ebony at the same level as the man's gun.

The shots crisscrossed, hitting the freak square between the eyes causing him to collapse heavily on the ground in a pool of blood. But Dante didn't have time to see it, for everything went black for a second as the bullet pierced his skull. Dazed, he too collapsed in a pool of his own blood, too confused to stand back up.

Alucard stirred, as his gloved hands touched the cold pavement. He levitated eerily upward to a standing position just as the mysterious man across from him did the same, except of course for the levitating part. The "kid" as Alucard liked to think of his new adversary dusted his red trench coat off with a sound of disgust. He wore a red vest underneath with a long sleeved black shirt. He could tell because the sleeves of his coat were rolled back. He also had black gloves which

held on to his two guns fiercely as though they were his pride and joy, however he placed his guns away and paced with a cocky stride.

"You're really one persistent bastard," He unsheathed his massive sword with a skull on it's hilt," I guess we'll do things the hard way."

He rushed with a vertical slice, his sword sparking along the ground as he ran shouting. Alucard raised his two firearms at the last second in an x-shaped gesture to block the blow.

The force of the hit caused a rippling effect and a crater in the pavement as the ground gave way slightly in an indent beneath the vampire's feet. The shockwave from the massive blow caused the remaining windows to shatter on the ground level.

"You put a lot of force into that strike, I'm impressed. Maybe I did underestimate you after all kid," Alucard said actually applying pressure as the young half-demon pushed with all of his weight.

"Yeah? Well I have my moments. You're not too bad yourself, to bad I'm better," said the devil hunter through gritted teeth.

Alucard smelled something different about the boy's blood on his clothes, something delicious. His long tongue licked his lips, as his eyes widened in almost manic insanity as he pushed the man away from him, while jumping back. His boots skidded on the asphalt, he placed one gun away and still held onto the white one. He could read the boy's thoughts only vaguely.

The kid ran at him with a horizontal slice, Alucard caught the full on force of the blade from the side with pincer-like grip and shot him near the heart.

Dante staggered back two steps and stared at his own blood on the palm of his gloved hand, before staring at the now gaping hole near where his heart was. He was actually panting. What was with this guy? It seemed like everything he was throwing at him wasn't working.

Shrugging his shoulders as the wound healed, Dante popped his neck. The man stood there still with a smile on his face in the same position as when he had fired the gun. Dante ran at him and went low cutting the legs out from under him. The surprised look on freak's face was enough to make Dante happy after all the trouble he had just been through. He used the force of his slice to complete a crouching spin to place his sword on his back and whip out his pistols.

"Let's see you heal from this asshole," Dante smirked and riddled the body with bullets, shredding it within a matter of seconds into bloody pieces on the pavement. Part of the head twitched, Dante raised Ivory," Jackp—."

Shadowy tendrils came from the knarled remains and formed a body as eerie laughter filled the air, echoing and booming tauntingly. Dante's eyes widened as the newly formed Alucard raised before him the same as before.

"Good try, now it's my turn," the vampire licked it's lips and rushed maddeningly at Dante, with it's five fingers all together like a karate chop. Dante, stunned, raised his sword and slid forward to intercept with a stab.

Blood washed the street oncemore, as the two stared at eachother inches from the other's face.

"W-what are you?" Dante grunted, pained by the hand impaled through his body.

"Something that walks the night," Alucard said with a wry grin, even though Rebellion was lodged where his heart was.

Dante raised a black booted foot and kicked off from his quarry pulling his Rebellion with him. He walked it off for a second exclaiming," Damn that hurt!"

Alucard was staring at him with amusement, before forming a new hat with shadowy matter.

"I knew you weren't human when I first looked at you. I could smell it."

"And you're a vampire right?"

Even though the man had turned with his back to Dante, he could still hear him chuckle quietly with that toothy grin," A vampire that's way out of your league."

"I would have won eventually, but seeing as we're both stalling until our wounds heal," Dante reached for one of his guns and placed his other hand on his sword," Come on, let's see what you still got!"

Alucard chuckled again, this time with genuine mirth,"I'm tired of fighting, quite frankly I'm satisfied. You're the toughest opponent I've faced in years, and certainly the worthiest."

"Aww, I'm all tears ,"Dante said mockingly," I don't have time for this, I only work when there's demons involved. Other than that I didn't sign up for this crap."

"You're a son of the Legendary Dark Knight, right?"

Dante stopped, looking slightly over his shoulder as started to walk away," What?"

"I saw it in your mind," Alucard said turning around and staring at Dante's bewildered face.

"You have no business in my head!" Dante said glaringly

" As you wish," laughed Alucard.

"So, the legends are true. My, my, this has been one interesting day. One interesting day indeed." Alucard continued laughing to himself.

"Get to the point!" Dante said pointing Rebellion at Alucard's throat, "How did you know my dad?"

The vampire smiled," I didn't exactly know your father, but I desired his blood at one time to make myself supreme. I did research for a couple decades but then he vanished into obscurity after a while and all known facts about him were lost. What a pity though that he is not here today, I very much would have liked to see how full demon blood tastes compared to yours." The vampire licked the gloved hand that he had plunged into Dante with a look of relish.

Disgusted, Dante began to walk away again until he heard Alucard's voice again," The demon is that way by the way." He had his head turned slightly to the right to signify the direction. "Thanks," Dante said sounding annoyed. He walked a couple blocks ahead through the mist until, he saw Alucard phase up through the pavement.

" The name's Alucard, by the way, and yours?" said the nosfertu leaning forward.

"Dante," said the devil hunter sounding exasperated.

"A pleasure to meet you Dante," nodded Alucard cordially with a regular non-toothy smile.

"My pleasure too, now will you get out of my way?" Dante sighed hurriedly and kept walking past him.

"You misunderstand me," Alucard said appearing beside Dante and staying in step with the half-devil," Our goals are one and the same. My organization has sent me here to take out the trash, and by trash I mean a vampire. I knew you were not a vampire when I first saw you, but I have to admit you passed the test rather well."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah.." Dante said ignoring Alucard.

"There is a church at the center of this place, and I garuntee you there will be what you seek."

Suddenly the ground shook as massive explosion lit the air with its orange plume. The inferno came from their right, and Dante dashed into that direction leaving behind his nemesis, whose reformed glasses reflected the inferno in its lenses.

"It would seem that a new war has begun," murmured Alucard his toothy smile returning.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter III: Cat Fight

_Twenty minutes earlier…_

Lady walked the misty streets of Chesterton hearing nothing but the echoes of her red combat boots reverberating off the windows and stone walls of the surrounding structures. The all too familiar weight of her most treasured weapon, the Kalina Ann, tugged on her right shoulder. She pulled at the leather strap that held it in place, not because it was heavy, but out of habit.

She surveyed her bleak surrounding with mismatched eyes to see any sign of movement. She had heard gunshots earlier as well as shuffling sounds from within the mist. She had tried to follow, but the web-like myriad of streets throughout the city had made it hard to get her bearings. Her brows furrowed. She had heard footsteps.

From the ghostly mist came the figure of a girl carrying a gun with a barrel almost twice the size of her own weapon. Lady grabbed a pistol from her right thigh holster and trained it at the girl's head.

The girl had been looking around fearfully and had not noticed Lady until she saw her standing with gun raised. Her immediate reaction was to scream. Lady cocked the weapon unflinching and surveyed the uniform which was of a tan color emblazoned with a crest coat of arms saying "Hellsing". The name didn't seem to ring a bell, but the girl's eyes had a luminous quality to them that blatantly seemed to say "not human".

"What happened here?"

The girl looked shocked that Lady had spoken so she repeated the question.

"What happened here?"

"I-I was sent here to do a final sweep to find a vampire."

"A vampire?" Lady raised an eyebrow, she had heard some whoppers, but with how creepy this place was she would believe just about anything could be held accountable. After all she did hunt demons for a living so she supposed vampires wouldn't be too hard to believe.

"If I don't find him soon master's going to be angry and-"

The girl trailed off as Lady lowered her gun and walked by her waving and saying,"Look I was hired to find a demon, that's all I know. Though it strikes me as odd that you are the only one unaffected by what happened here."

Lady was unnerved by the young woman's apparent odd eye coloring and the girl seemed to notice for the first time that Lady's eyes were both different colors, one being reddish-brown and the other being blue.

"How do I know you're not the bloody vampire we've been looking for,"She said with her British accent clearly present.

"Excuse me? How do I know you're not the demon. And who was this master you were referring to earlier?"

Lady raised her gun oncemore and fired a shot that grazed the young lady's cheek. She raised a brown gloved hand and stared at her own blood, a sort of strange look on her face her mouth partially open. Lady noticed pointy teeth and cursed inwardly and wondered what in the hell she had gotten herself into. Not wanting to waste time to find out she fired a few more rounds which the girl dodged with superfast agility for someone wielding a weapon so heavy.

Lady did a duck and roll as the girl cast off the anti-tank weapon and rushed at her in a strange sort of frenzy at having seen her own blood. Her eyes were red. Blood red.

Seras noticed the girl was not your average human. She was highly trained in the use of firearms and acrobatics. She had avoided her rush attack by rolling to the side and popping off a few lucky shots which tore through her uniform and her body. She gasped in pain as the bullets passed through. Her eyes furrowed her heightened vampiric senses took over.

She clawed at the girl who used her rocket launcher as a melee weapon to deflect the blow. The force of the onslaught sent her opponent reeling back, just in time for her to grab the weapon that she always carried, the one Walter had been so kind to give.

"I'm gonna send your ruddy ass back to Hell!"

"Not if I take you with me,"The woman said wryly, making Seras wonder whether she was insane.

The two were way too close and the guns were dead even. The girl was only barely seven feet away, this would hurt even if the blast missed them both. They both pulled the triggers at the same time.

The resulting explosion blew out all the windows and created a fiery plume that illuminated the entire foggy sky with its swath. Lady had down a back flip just as the missile met her opponent's shot. The crater in the ground was rapidly filling with water from the sewer and broken pipes. Smoke made it hard to see but she could see the shape of a woman on the other side. They stared at eachother then the red-eyed girl said,"Are you out of your bloody mind?"

"If you're not a demon than what are you?"

"She's a vampire,"said the form of a red coated man than seemed to phase out of a building wall next to her. She immediately trained a gun from her left leg holster to his head.

"Whoo, relax Lady he's with me,"Said the all too familiar voice of the cockiest devil hunter she knew:Dante.

"Great,"she said keeping the gun trained on the vampire who smirked at her,"I see you made a new friend. Can't say much for the fashion sense though."

"Yeah kinda lost the game in the looks department too,"Dante said rubbing his face and walking over as Lady cautiously lowered her gun and put it in its holster.

"My name is Alucard,"the vampire said with a nod,"I'm here on Hellsing business."

"Um m-master?"

"Yes police girl?"

Alucard turned to stare across the crater that had resulted from the battle.

"Uh, how do I get across?"

"You'll manage."

Seras gathered up her courage and leapt for it missing slightly and grabbing the rim of the massive indention and to her surprise was offered a black gloved hand.

"Need a hand,"said Dante raising one eyebrow and leaning down.

"You never change do you,"Lady said with disgust.

"Hey, I'm trying to make a good first impression," Dante shrugged after helping the "Police Girl" up.

"Yeah, like when we first met, real "good" first impression you made there,"she said playfully almost with a tinge of a smile.

"Hehe, better than yours,"Dante said gesturing to the spot where Lady had fired a bullet through his skull during their first meeting.

"Pardon my interruption,"Alucard said slyly, noticing that the two devil hunters were obviously acquainted. He paused and then added,"Am I interrupting something?"

"No,"they both said at the same time giving him their full attention.

"I suggest we continue searching for the source of all the disturbance at the center, all of the Ghouls seem to be fanning from."

"Ghouls,"Lady seemed to say questioningly.

"Non-virgins bitten by vampires,"Alucard said with a sneer.

The vampire paused as if sensing something was not quite right and tensed his fingers's hold on his pistols.

"We're not alone,"Alucard said sensing something not only like Ghouls but evil more concentrated.

Everyone drew themselves into a circle drawing weapons, all with pistols save for Seras Victoria's massive gun.

Then out of the walls rippling portals made from a distortion in reality spawned red-eyed scythe wielding demons who leapt at the group only to be shot down by Dante and Lady. Shuffling from both the left and the right of the block suggested that Ghouls would be upon them soon enough as well.

"Demons and zombies huh? A little late for Halloween,"Dante smirked training his eyes as the circle of back to back professionals continuously shuffled in rotation.

"Welcome to my world,"Alucard chuckled his red eyes piercingly gazing at the lines of Ghouls that seemed to appear wispily from the mist.

"Sure are a bloody lot of them,"Seras said nervously fingering the trigger of the Harkonnen as more demons appeared joining the Ghouls.

"Devils working with these things. This is new,"Lady said gazing at multiple possible targets, calculating which ones would be worth killing first.

"So, Dante, was it?"

"Yeah?"

Dante looked over his shoulder at Alucard who stopped as the whole circle stopped back to back still.

"What do you call these interesting situations?"

"Me? I call it one Hell of a party!"

"Hell of a party, huh? I like that."


End file.
